Hating You For the last time
by LunaLovegood731
Summary: Helga's rough journey through adolescence into adulthood. It all begins with losing her best friend...
1. Best bud Betrayal

Helga Pataki was curled up on her bed, glaring at a photograph while the radio blared, when someone pounded on the door.

"What!" She yelled, annoyed by the interruption of her daily festering session.

"Hey hun, you got a letter in the mail today." Her mom said through the wood. She pushed it under the door, making Helga look down at it with half interest. "And don't forget your class tonight. You've got to kee-"

"God mom I know!" Helga fumed, "I know my own class schedule, and I know I need to get killer grades and actually pass the classes. You don't have to remind me every friggin' day! Now will you just leave me alone!"

There was silence on the other side for a moment, followed by soft footsteps walking away. Helga sighed and rolled off her bed. Walking over to the pink envelope she skillfully picked it up between her toes then flopped back down on her bed. The envelope had no name or return address, and the handwriting wasn't recognizable. Helga held it up to her nose to sniff. The perfume lacing the paper was a dead give away to its sender, Helga had known it all too well.  
It was from her old friend Phoebe.

She didn't need telepathy to know what the letter consisted of. Ripping it open, glitter fell out along with a necklace. "Shit" she stated through bared teeth, brushing the annoying sparkles off her legs and comforter. Rolling her eyes, she opened the piece of paper up and scanned its contents. As predicted it was the same intro of "I know we're not as close as we used to be" followed by what Helga assumed to be Phoebes lame excuses behind why she was being such a bitch to her, ending with a declaration of missing her and still wanting to hang out. The only thing that made this letter different was the P.S. at the end which said, "You left your half of our 'best friends' necklaces at my house last time you stopped by. I was hoping you still wanted it."

"Leaving it there wasn't a mistake" Helga said aloud. She snatched up the necklace with the half heart charm with 'friends' etched in it, and tossed it in her desk drawer along with the letter and all of the other letters Phoebe had been sending her periodically. Helga never responded to even one of them over the series of months that had gone by, but apparently Phoebe didn't quite get the message.

As she hopped in the shower to get ready for her evening class, her weary mind recalled how they had found themselves in this situation. How one person can ruin every thing.

It was the year before they would all be starting high school. Christmas break had just ended and all her fellow eighth graders were busy comparing their ventures over the holidays before first period began. Phoebe came in a bit later than usual, so Helga barely had time to describe her whole vacation before the teacher strolled in and demanded the class silent. She slipped Phoebe a piece of paper asking about her time off, it had been the first year they had not spent it together so she was curious what preoccupied the girl so much as to not call her the whole time.  
Phoebe gave her a strange look before scribbling something down and sliding the note back. It said "not a lot. Hung out with Mike mostly. Promise you won't be mad at me if I tell you something?"

Helga's heart skipped a beat at the words before scratching out "what?", though she had a good idea. She tossed it back to Phoebe, who took a deep breath and wrote down something quickly. As Helga received the note again, she unfolded it slowly. "I lost it this past Friday." Was all it said.

Helga crumpled the note up in her hand, and did not look at Phoebe for the remainder of the class. As soon as the bell rang she stormed out, Phoebe close behind her.

"What happened to you two not being that serious?" Helga mumbled finally, staring straight ahead as they speed walked down the hallway.

"Well" Phoebe started, "I guess I'm in love with him Helga. And I just wanted to grow up a bit. You can't tell me if Arnold was still here you wouldn't have gone through with it."

Helga spun to face her, "Okay first of all, you have no concept of love; you've only known him for a few months. You're not even old enough to even drive, why are you rushing to grow up? And don't you ever compare Arnold with Michael in any way. Arnold isn't a complete asshole like him."

Phoebe meekly defended, "We all have to grow up sometime. And Mike has really changed; you really should try to be friends."

"Anyone who puts bruises on my best friends arm is no friend of mine." Helga snapped.

Phoebe tugged down her sleeve, "I told you we were just playing around."  
Helga rolled her eyes and shook her head, not having the stomach to look the girl in the face at the time.

"Please don't be angry." Phoebe pleaded.

Helga looked into her watery dark eyes and melted inside. Just then a boy came bounding up behind Phoebe and wrapped an arm around her small frame. She giggled and slightly elbowed Michel, before turning back to Helga with worried eyes. On the outside Helga put on indifference and shrugged. "Whatever…look, uh, I got to go, I'll catch ya later." With that she hurried down the hallway, shedding a tear for the past.

After that day, as much as the two friends tried to keep things the same, the world was shifting violently. Phoebe's beau gradually kept demanding more of her time, and Helga found her self hanging around the house waiting for a phone call that failed to come more and more often. Within a couple months Helga was shocked if she heard from her best friend at least once in the week. Had it not been for school, they may have lost communication all together.

Finally, their relationship was reduced to boyfriend before best friend. When Phoebe and Michael had a fight, then Helga found herself as suddenly the main attraction to the girl. Like the old days they'd hit their favorite shops, laughing together in their little bubble of denial, until Phoebe's damn cell phone would ring.

"Don't answer it" Helga always warned. Phoebe would, and it would be Mike, either spilling out meaningless apologies or shouting words that reduced her to tears. Either way, the call was the queue for the end of their time together, because either she had to go see him, or she was so depressed she just wanted to go home.

For as many times as Helga heard Phoebe exclaim how much he had changed, she saw no difference in Mike and figured she never would.

When you start treating a friend like a consolation prize when something better to you isn't available, if they have any self respect at all, they won't put up with it for long. So after putting up with the sting of neglect for some time, Helga decided be the first to go instead of watching the relationship painfully keep fading. It was two weeks before school let out for the summer, but Helga had somewhere she needed to go and she couldn't wait another minute.  
She had to go to Arizona, she had to go see him.


	2. Flying forward, to go back

_A/N: Recap: As she approaches entering high school, Helga is hurt by her best friend neglecting and taking her for granted (thanks to an abusive boyfriend). She's ignoring Phoebe's letters because she refuses to be treated like a thing Phoebe will get around to if there's nothing better to do. Everyone else around her is changing and she's steadily starting to hate her life in general. Needing to break away, and having no other clue where to go, she decides to go see the one person she hasn't seen in years. The one who solved everybody's problems, the one she had lived for when there was nothing else, the one who knew her heart, who broke it when he left abruptly. She's going all the way to Arizona to see him, for many reasons…  
_

Helga had always hated airplanes, and had managed to avoid them up to this point in her life. So needless to say riding for many hours in one half of the time through bad weather, was not her ideal first time for this experience. Whether they go as imagined or not, Helga hoped to experience a few more first times this summer.

She squeezed into the plane's lavatory to splash water on her face and to look her (always slightly rugged) appearance over. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a few careless strands fallen out around her face. A pair of steely gray eyes glared at the pimple on her chin, a mark on her usually flawless but "sickly pale" skin. Her two (yes 2) eyebrows furrowed as she analyzed her figure, pointing out everything she saw as flawed; From her above average height, to her "too small" breasts, to her extra 7 pounds, to her "oversized" feet.  
She tugged at her black tank top, and growled at the jeans she'd decided to wear because to her they suddenly were making herbutt look distorted. Shrugging, she confessed to her reflection, "I'm a last cause." She sealed it with some chap stick across her full lips and headed back to her seat.  
Finally she arrived in Phoenix, Arizona. With backpack on and suitcase in hand, she got a cab and handed the driver a post-it with an address she hoped was correct. He nodded and started driving. After about 15 minutes, the scenery was making Helga tired, and her eyelidswere getting very heavy. The driver looked up in his rear view mirror and said, "We're still about half an hour away, so feel free to doze off for a bit."

She gave him a half smile and gazed back out the window. Five minutes later she was asleep.

An abrupt stop shook her awake. The car had pulled up to a house, and the driver was getting her bags out of the trunk. She jumped out of the car and looked around. This was the place, this was it. Panicked she looked herself over in the car window. As she reached for her bags, the driver motioned for her to go to the door. "I'll carry them up for you." He smiled. Something about his smile was familiar…

Helga moved nervously up to the front door, her heart pounding harder with each step. She inhaled sharply and held her breath as she gave the silver knocker three firm raps. Quick footsteps could be heard inside, making their way towards the door. Her feet twitched with the sudden thought that maybe this was a bad idea and she should make a run for it, but the driver was standing directly behind her.

The door knob twisted and with the small creak of hinges, Helga came face to face with her past. She saw histall,tonedbody stiffen, and his sparkling blue eyes widen slightly. For a moment they stood and stared in silence.

"Hi, Arnold."

As Helga said those two words she suddenly felt lighter, because for three years she had thought she'd never get to say them again.

"H-Helga?" he finally stammered.

"That's my name." she joked timidly, his reaction worrying her.

Suddenly a huge smile spread across his face, and a second later Helga was wrapped up in his arms as he hugged her tightly.

He pulled away some, his hands resting on her shoulders. "I can't believe you're here. You, out of the whole gang, coming all the way out to AZ to see me."

"Yeah, well you'd better appreciate it; my savings account took a major hit just for you…football head." She grinned.

He chuckled and grabbed her hand, "come on in."

The driver followed behind Helga and after putting her bags by the stairs, went into the kitchen and got himself a drink.

"Arnold…" Helga worriedly pulled on his arm, "the driver is raiding your kitchen."

He stifled a laugh, "Don't worry. He owns the place." He yanked her into the kitchen, "Helga this is my dad."

The man grinned, "I've heard so much about **you**."

Helga shook his hand, relieved. "Not much to tell I'd think."

Arnold's dad raised an eyebrow and gave his son a look, "You'd be surprised then."

Arnold abruptly grasped Helga's hand again and turned her to him "Moving on…What brings you down here?"

Helga struggled for words, "Well…um…" she glanced over at his dad, "it's kind of a long story. Some of it I'm still trying to sort out."

Arnold nodded, understanding it seemed. "How long will you be here?"

She shrugged, "um, not really sure…"

"Won't your parents worry?"

"Yeah right. My dad was more than happy to buy my ticket for me."

"Where are you going to stay?"

"I dunno"

"Wait, isn't school still in session?"

She gasped exhaustedly and threw her hands up, "Look Arnold, I didn't really think this out. I just…really wanted to see you." Calming, she grinned meekly, "so here I am"

A pause and then Arnold linked arms with her, "Alright then. You'll just have to stay here and hang out with me all summer."

Helga looked at him with shock, "Arnold I couldn't do that. You're talking about a huge imposition, and I don't think your dad would appreciate it much."

"Now how do you know that?" Arnold's father smiled, "Helga, from what I've heard about you from Arnold, you sound like a great girl, and this area doesn't have many teenagers. Arnold could use a friend like you around this summer. So, as long as you're in Arizona, you're welcome in this house."

Helga grinned, shaking her head in disbelief, "You are the coolest parent I've ever met."

The man pointed at Arnold and said to him, "See, I told you I'm cool."

Arnold rolled his eyes and grinned, "Alright keep telling your self that dad. I'm gonna show Helga around."

With that, Helga was given a tour of her new home, for the next couple of months at least. The downstairs was the kitchen, dining room, and spacious living room with a complete entertainment system and sky lights.

Upstairs was the bathroom, Arnold's room, his dads room, and a spare room with only a twin bed and a small dresser in it. "Sorry it isn't all that cozy of a room. We've been meaning to decorate it."

Helga beamed at him, "It's comforting in its simplicity."

She sauntered over to the bed and flopped down on it, and Arnold followed. For a few minutes they laid there, bathing in the glow of the sunset streaming through the window.

"You must have really exaggerated talking about me to your dad, to convince him to let a girl he just met stay in his house." Helga said.

Arnold sat up, "Not at all. Idescribed you tohim exactly how I saw you in my eyes. That rough and tough girl act didn't fool me."

"I know" Helga said softly.

(((A pause)))

"So what's wrong? Something has to be going on back in the city to force you to come all the way out here to see the same person you said you never wanted to see again all those years ago."

Helga sat up (Arnold had hit a nerve), "Well that was then... and what else did you expect me to do! I spend almost my whole life hiding my feelings, and the day I finally expose my bleeding heart to you, you tell me you've found your father and are moving away in two days. It was a hard blow, I was hurt and embarrassed. So much I thought that never seeing you again would be the only way I could recover. Anyways, you didn't seem all that torn up over the whole ordeal…"

"Are you kidding!" Arnold cut in, "I've never been so torn in my life. The gang was getting along great; you and I had finally started becoming good friends, when suddenly this whole new life is presented to me that I just couldn't refuse, because I'd finally have a dad. You saying those things that night was just… too much for me to handle. Either reaction I was considering would have ended up hurting you in the end. I tried for the least painful."

Helga shivered slightly and then asked him in a voice above a whisper, "What would have been your other reaction?"

Arnold stared deeply into her eyes, his voice suddenly becoming husky, "I would have done…this."

He leaned in kissing her lips sweetly and gently. Helga had kissed him before but never like this. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling his body closer. But then he pulled away.

His breathing was staggered, "You can see why I opted for plan B that night."

She looked out the window and nodded slowly.

_A/N: So what do you think? To continue, or not to continue?..._


End file.
